Breaking Time
by Ridikulus
Summary: Harry was thrown into the past during his adventures in the Dep. of Mysteries. Little did he know, a Death Eater was sent back as well causing all sorts of difficulties for Harry and the marauders. Standard time travel fic with a twist! HarryXOC. no slash
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

AN: I hear every FF writer has to write at least one time-travel fic, it's like a rite of passage, so here is my attempt ay one. I hope you enjoy it! Also just to clear a few things up, this takes place during the Marauders 5th year and Harry is transported back in time during the battle at the Department of Mysteries. Harry is very disoriented at first and doesn't really remember what happened to him but all will be explained in the next couple of chapters. Pretty please with a cherry on top review review review!

Disclaimer: It's JKR's world i'm just playing in it :)

Lily Evans walked briskly down the corridor, her red hair swinging behind her. She was on her way to the library to look up the properties of moonstone, she could remember all of them except one and it was driving her insane. It was almost lights-out but Lily had decided that if she hurried she could make it there and back in time; she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep with it bugging her like that. Anyone else would have simply let it go but not Lily, plus it was her O.W.L year, what if this question came up on the exam and she didn't know the answer because she had been too lazy to walk down to the library?

With that consoling thought she hurried around the next corner when she heard a crash behind her. She turned around and rushed towards the sound. To her surprise she saw a boy with messy black hair lying sprawled across the floor. She sighed exasperatedly of course it was James, who else would it be? Lily walked up to the body, she was slightly perplexed, how could James have gotten behind her? She hadn't seen anyone when she walked by and James usually made his presence known. Shrugging, she decided it really wasn't important, what was important was making him go away so that she could continue on her way to the library in peace.

"James, get up!" she ordered as she kicked him lightly in the side. The boy groaned but made no other movement. Lily sighed again "come on James I don't have time for you're games tonight, now get up or I'm leaving you here." Lily wondered to herself why she didn't just leave him, to be perfectly honest she was curious about this most recent attempt to win her heart. She decided that he must be going for the sympathy technique; well it most certainly wasn't going to work. Lily waited for another moment of so but when the boy didn't make a move Lily got slightly concerned; it _really_ wasn't like James to play dead. She kept expecting him to jump up and try to scare her but he didn't. She rolled him over onto his back with her foot; he simply laid there looking quite pale. Lily nudged him again in the side.

At that moment Sirius came around the corner, returning from his detention with Filch. When he caught sight of Lily standing over James' body he let out a yelp and exclaimed "Oi! What have you done to him?"

"I didn't do anything!" Lily protested vehemently "I just found him like this," Sirius didn't look convinced and rushed over. They both bent down over the unconscious body.

"Prongs wake up!" said Sirius as he shook Harry's shoulders.

"As if I didn't already try that," Lily scoffed, "here move over" she instructed. Lily pulled out her wand and was about to perform a spell when Sirius stopped her.

"Wait, what are you going to do to him?" he asked, looking warily at her wand.

Lily gave him a disgusted look as an answer and then muttered "Ennerverate." Harry opened his eyes blearily and saw a flash of red hair swimming above him.

"Ginny?" Harry mumbled and then immediately turned to his side and retched all over the floor. Lily leaned back in disgust and then shared a concerned look with Sirius. Once he was finished emptying his stomach he slumped back down to the ground and closed his eyes.

"We'd better get him down to the hospital wing," Lily said.

"Yeah, good idea," responded Sirius and together they hoisted Harry to his feet. He blinked a few times, clearly very out of it. "Can you walk?" asked Sirius, Harry nodded and Sirius and Lily released his arms. He swayed for a moment and then collapsed back onto the ground. Sirius and Lily dropped besides him each looking at him seriously, very worried at this point. Harry rolled himself over and pushed himself into a sitting position. He leaned his head against the wall and let out a soft moan. His head felt like it was about to explode and all he could think about was the pain. He knew the people around him were saying something but he couldn't decipher the meaning. He couldn't remember what had happened to him and his stomach was still churning.

Sirius finally broke the silence, "James, what happened to you? Last I know is you were headed off to your detention with McGonagall for setting Walter's hair on fire and then I found you here, care to fill in the gap?" Harry moaned again and held his head in his hands. Had he just been called James? Slowly the images from earlier that night came to him, he had been running through the Department of Mysteries, he had come to a room full of time turners and then there was a flash of red and the cabinet of time turners had come crashing down onto him, after that there was only black and now an oddly familiar face was staring at him in obvious concern.

Suddenly with a shock he recognized the face, "Sirius is that you?" his rasped out, his throat felt think, he could hardly get the words out and after he said them he was struck with a coughing fit.

"Of course its me, mate," Sirius shared another anxious look with Lily, "now lets get you to the hospital wing."

Harry coughed again, "No, I'm fine, really, I just need a minute to sit here, get my bearings you know?" Harry closed his eyes again. He couldn't understand what was going on, where was he? Why was a 15 year old Sirius starring at him and why did it feel like his head had just been pounded with a hammer? His thoughts continued to race as he tried to think of a logical explanation for all this. Maybe it had something to do with the time turners, or maybe the spell Neville had shot had hit him and something had gone wrong which was why he was hallucinating.

"What should we do now?" asked Lily. At the sound of her voice Harry's eyes snapped open, he hadn't even noticed before who the other person was besides Sirius.

"Who're you?" he asked without thinking, she looked astonishingly like his mother from pictures of her at school but Harry didn't dare even consider the possibility that it was her.

"James," said Lily seriously "It's me, Lily."

"I'm not James, my names Harry and you can't be Lily. I don't know what game you're playing at but it certainly needs to ends now."

"Look James, I'm not playing a game and I don't appreciate being made fun of after I just tried to help you! You know what? Just whatever, I don't even know why I tried, Sirius you take care of him; I can't deal with James right now or ever for that matter." And with that she stormed off in a huff.

"Wow Prongs you really made her mad this time,"

"I already told you, my name is Harry and what are you doing here?" His brain was still so fuzzy, later he would realize the stupidity of his remarks, he should have simply played it cool and pretended to be a new student but in his shock he stubbornly refused to understand the current situation.

"Uh well I go to school here you know…."

"Sirius stop joking around you're supposed to be at Grimmauld place, that's what Bellatrix said, she said the dream of Voldemort torturing you was fake and instead you're at home…." He trailed off at the shocked expression on his godfather's face.

"What are you talking about? You-Know-Who torturing me? And since when do you talk to my cousin? You must have hit your head pretty hard, look lets take you to the hospital wing and we can discuss all this when you're back in your right mind." Just at that moment the real James Potter rounded the corner.

AN: This is my first fic so please give me constructive critisism, anything is welcome, just let me know if it's worth continuing or not. Love you to death for reading this by the way!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

AN: Thank you everyone who reviewed! They made me smile all morning, I hope this chapter is alright, just tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: None of it's mine :)

"Ah Padfoot there you are! You won't believe what McGonagall made me do, she had me-whoa who's that?" Sirius gave a yelp and looked from Harry on the floor to James standing above him and then back to Harry. "But you, you're on the floor- what are you doing, I mean how can you be, I mean what the bloody hell is going on here?" Sirius kept looking confusedly between Harry and James. James was starring at Harry with a look of shock written all over his face.

"Who are you?" he finally asked.

"Harry,"

"Does that come with a last name?"

"Uh yeah it does, but erm I really have to be going it was very nice to meet you," and with that Harry heaved himself off the floor, stumbled for a few steps and then took off at a run down the hall with James' and Sirius's protests ringing in his ears. He couldn't't believe it, he had just seen his father for the first time ever and his response had been sprinting away. Slightly mortified with his reaction, Harry dived into a nearby classroom, thankfully empty, and sat on top of one of the desks to plot out his next move. He could hear James and Sirius run by.

"Where did he go?" He heard James ask. They slowed to a walk.

"I dunno, but he looked exactly like you Prongs, it was creepy."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Let's check the map to find him; I'm more then a little curious about this fellow." Harry's heart stopped, if they checked the map and saw that his last name was Potter it could destroy time and ruin his future and who knows what else. He didn't dare breathe as he waited for their reaction.

"Can't, Peter has it tonight," Harry breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that Sirius and James had forgotten about him for the moment and they stood outside his hiding spot and talked "he wanted to conveniently 'bump into' Riley Donnellson and he needed the map to do it. I think it's great that Pete is finally making a move on her I mean he's liked her _forever_ and all he ever does is stare."

"Well, he's only doing something now 'cause you threatened to lock him out of the dormitory if he didn't." laughed James

"Oh yeah I forgot I said that" snickered Sirius, and then Harry heard the unmistakable sound of the two of them walking away from the door.

Harry waited for a few more minutes, before making up his mind about what to do next. His head had stopped pounding but the pain was replaced with an irrevocable sense of terror and apprehension. His friends were fighting a battle right now in the Department of Mysteries and he was stuck in the past with no way of getting back to help them. He tried not to focus too much on the fact that they were only there because of him and were most likely facing certain death. At least Sirius is safe he reasoned and then immediately felt horrible, he was putting Sirius's life above those of his friends. He also felt another wave of guilt as he realized he was a little bit excited that he had just met his father and was hoping to talk to him again. His friends were in danger and he was thinking about having a chat with his dad. Slightly disgusted with himself he made up his mind. First he had to talk to Dumbledore, hopefully he could come up with a way out of this mess, and then he would have to figure out how he was going to save his friends, if he found time to talk to his dad once more before leaving then that was just an added bonus.

Harry poked his head out of the door to check that the coast was clear. Then, he took off at a fast walk down to Dumbledore's office, luckily the corridors were deserted and he didn't have to explain himself to anyone. When he reached the stone gargoyle he began listing all the sweets he could think of in vain.

"Come on open up, I don't know the password but it's really important. Please!" And to his shock the gargoyle leapt aside. Not wanted to question his good fortune Harry took the stairs two at a time and arrived at the door gasping for breath. As he reached out his hand to knock he heard Dumbledore's serene voice call out.

"Come in," he had most certainly heard Harry thundering up the stairs. Harry cracked the door open and slid into the room completely unsure of what to say now that he was here. "James what brings you to my office on this fine evening?" asked Dumbledore, piercing Harry with his blue gaze.

"Not James sir, my names Harry, Harry Potter,"

"My apologies Mr. Potter, you look remarkably like young James, are you of any relation to him perchance, I thought I knew all the Potters but it is quite possible that I was mistaken," Dumbledore smiled pleasantly at him.

"Actually I am related to him, you see," he paused bracing himself for the reaction he was sure to get, "I'm his son, from the future," he waited expectantly for the response, Dumbledore just sat back in his chair and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. He pressed his lips together and then after what felt like an incredibly long amount of time he broke the silence.

"I think it would be best if you began at the beginning, why don't you take a seat," he motioned to the chair opposite his own. Harry sat down unsure of how to begin.

"Well I guess it all started when I got this weird vision thing of Sirius being tortured by Lord Voldemort." Harry's face burned with shame again as remembered that he had led his friends to almost certain doom all because Voldemort was using him. He pushed the thought away and sped through the rest of his story glossing over the finer points until he came to the part where he was running through the room with the time turners. As he had told the story the details that he had been unable to remember previously fell into place.

"Well then my friend Neville shot a stunner at this Death Eater but it missed and hit the cabinet full of time turners. Just as it hit the Death Eater pushed me at the cabinet and then all I remember is black."

Dumbledore didn't say anything for a while, silently scrutinizing Harry who was waiting expectantly for the response to his story. "So you're saying that you got here, traveling by numerous broken time turners?" Harry nodded in confirmation. "Then why aren't you dead?"

Harry opened his mouth in shock, "Dead?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter, dead. The Ministry of Magic has done countless experiments on time travel and in all cases where a subject was given two time turners set to different times the subject did not survive. They were what can best be describes as being splinched when apparating. Yet here you sit, alive and well, how can I be certain that you are not an agent of Lord Voldemort, sent here to assassinate me?"

"Um… well," Harry desperately searched around the room hoping to find a source of inspiration, finally his eyes fell on Fawkes, "If I really was a Death Eater, surely Fawkes would know wouldn't he? I mean Phoenix's are highly intelligent birds, I'm sure they would be able to tell if their master was in danger wouldn't they?" Harry looked expectantly up at Dumbledore, hoping this lame excuse would suffice.

Dumbledore smiled, "Don't worry I believe you, any Death Eater would not have gone through all the trouble of telling me some elaborate story if they were merely sent here to kill me, and yes Fawkes would have sensed that you had intentions of hurting me long before you attempted anything. Another way I can be pretty sure that you're not a Death Eater is that you guessed my password, not many Death Eater would try the word 'please' now would they?"

Harry nodded in relief, grateful that Dumbledore didn't suspect him of anything. "I don't know how I survived coming here with all those different time turners, sir, but I can assure you I was rather ill when Sirius and Lily found me, they must think I am absolutely crazy the way I was talking when they woke me up,"

Dumbledore's head snapped up, "You were seen by Sirius and Lily already?" Harry nodded again. "Now that does cause some complications, but no bother I'm sure we will be able to work around that little snag."

Dumbledore continued to talk but Harry wasn't listening, he had suddenly just remembered that before the fiasco with the time turners had happened his wand had been flung away from him, thanks again to Neville. He and the Death Eater had been chasing after the wands when he had been pushed into the cabinet. Almost not wanted to know the answer Harry reached into his pocket and his hands closed around nothing. His wand was gone.

AN: please review! they make me so happy :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

AN: I'm not particularly pleased with this chapter but all the borring explaining stuff had to be gotten out of the way somehow. Again I love all my reviewers to death and thanks everyone who added me to their favorites and author alerts, but come on guys I have nearly 400 hits and only 7 reviews!! You guys can do better then that I beleive in you! So thats my way of saying pretty please review :)

His heart plummeted, he felt empty, his entire sense of being was his wand, without it he was lost. "My wand, its not here," Harry looked up in horror at Dumbledore with a slight trace of terror in his voice he asked "what should I do?" He was starting to panic, he was useless without his wand, he _needed_ his wand.

"Don't worry," Dumbledore soothed, "I can write to Ollivander and request your wand to be shipped here, I'll just tell him I need to study it for a time, do you know when your wand was manufactures because if it hasn't been made yet I can simply request any old wand for you to use in the mean time."

Harry sighed with relief; trust Dumbledore to come up with the obvious solution. "Yeah it was made ages ago, it should be there."

"Good, I will request it tonight and hopefully it shall be here first thing tomorrow, do tell me what was the make of your wand?"

"11 inches, Holly with a phoenix feather, sir, that phoenix actually," answered Harry, pointing at Fawkes.

"Well that is certainly interesting," mused Dumbledore. "Now onto matters of immediate importance, has anyone seen you since you arrived?"

"Yes, Sirius did, and well I guess she was actually telling the truth when she told me her name, Lily and my dad too."

"Did you tell them your name or anything about you?"

"Just my first name"

"That's probably for the better, we will naturally have to create a fake identity for you, do you oppose to the surname Phillips?"

"Harry Phillips," He tried it out, the name sounded weird on his tongue but it would have to do, "I suppose I could remember that, but sir, does this mean that you can't send me back?"

"Currently I have no solution, time travel is not meant to work for more then a few days, a week at the absolute most, again I express my astonishment that you survived the journey here. Of course I will look into every possible method to get you home but I can make no promises." With that information Harry's heart fell, how could he save his friends if he couldn't even get back to them? Dumbledore noticed his expression, and as if he had read his mind he said, "don't worry I'm sure your friends are fine, we will come up with a solution don't worry." Harry gave him a weak smile in response. "Now, back to creating your fake identity, let's go with the cover story that your mother was a witch but your father was a muggle, which explains your unfamiliar surname. Also, you were homeschooled by a private tutor because your parents didn't want you going so far away but upon the death of your tutor they have decided the safest place for you to be right now is here at Hogwarts. Does that sound reasonable?"

"Sure, why not? I guess I am taking my 5th year over again but that's ok at least I won't have to study too hard right?" He smiled up at Dumbledore whose eyes were twinkling in response.

"Good, now that that is cleared up why don't you settle in, I can see that you are a Gryffindor from your robes, I will have the house elves prepare another bed for you and I will have a trunk load of school supplies delivered tomorrow with your wand."

"I can't thank you enough Professor, really I do appreciate it."

"It's no problem at all Harry I just have one promise to make of you."

"Of course, what is it?"

"Do no reveal to anyone from what time you are from, that is of the utmost importance if you plan on returning to the same future you left behind."

"I promise." And with that Harry strode out of Dumbledore's office and headed up to Gryffindor common room. He didn't have a clue what he would say to Sirius and James when he saw them again but at the moment all he really cared about was going to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A/N: I love all of my reviewers! You guys seriously make my day. Huge thanks to my awesome beyond words Beta, Chasing Keys. You rock! Oh and I have over 1000 hits! Woot woot. I honestly haven't a clue if that is actually a lot but it seems like a lot to me so I am pretty durn excited!

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When Harry came up the portrait of the Fat Lady, he cursed himself for not remembering to ask Dumbledore for the password. To make matter worse, the Fat Lady was glaring at him as he stood there and clumsily tried to explain his situation to her. 

"You see I'm a new student and I don't know the password, but I really would like to go upstairs and sleep and so, could you please let me in?" He looked up at her hopefully. She didn't respond and just continued to frown down at him. Finally after about 15 minutes of waiting for someone to come and open the portrait for him, Peter came stumbling down the corridor into view.

Harry barely restrained himself from stunning him on sight. After all, this was the man, well boy, who was the reason Harry didn't have any parents. But on second thought, he doubted that Dumbledore would appreciate it if Harry murdered someone his first night here, so he controlled himself. Harry forced himself to smile and ask, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know the password would you, I'm a new student and the portrait won't let me in"

Peter barely glanced at him. Now that he was closer up Harry noticed how miserable the boy looked, but Harry really couldn't muster up any pity for him. Whatever had happened to him, he probably deserved it, Harry thought cruelly.

"Maneki Neko" Peter mumbled and the Fat lady half-heartedly swung open, looking angry that Harry had found a way in. Harry followed Peter up the stairs, happy to not have to make any small-talk or explain himself to the traitor.

When they reached the dormitory Harry found that Sirius, James and Remus were already asleep. Harry discovered himself openly starring at James but hopefully before Peter noticed anything odd he made his way to the only open bed. Peter didn't say a word as he changed and then pulled his curtains closed around him.

Harry, on the other hand, who was pajama-less, just sat on his bed and starred at the other occupants of the room. Remus had light brown hair that was yet to show any signs of grey and his face looked considerably more peaceful then Harry had ever seen it before. Sirius had inherited the aristocratic, somewhat haughty Black good looks and was just as handsome as he had always been described, before Azkaban had hallowed out his face and nearly destroyed all signs of attractiveness. His long dark hair fell over his closed eyes giving him a care-free look, even in sleep. James also looked untroubled and happy. Harry couldn't help but notice all the differences between himself and James. James had a slightly longer nose and he had a barely noticeable freckle on his ear that Harry only noticed because he was searching for any dissimilarity. The hair and thin face however were identical and Harry could understand why, upon meeting him, everyone compared him to James. The two big discrepancies between them however was the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead and of course the eyes which Harry couldn't currently see, James being asleep and all, but he knew that James' eyes were hazel. Another difference that Harry would never notice but anyone else saw instantly when looking at the two of them was the unmistakable maturity in Harry's eyes that was entirely absent in James'. Harry had aged far beyond his years and that was evident to any observer.

After starring for a while longer Harry kicked off his shoes and reached into his pocket to rest his wand on the bedside table. He had a small shock as he remembered that it was gone as the sinking feeling rushed back. He shook himself to rid himself of the sensation. He would have his wand tomorrow, he reminded himself comfortingly. Finally he took off his glasses and lay down on the bed. It was well after midnight but still Harry couldn't sleep. His mind was racing with everything that had happened that day. Had it really only been a few hours ago that he had been questioned with Hermione in Umbridge's office? It felt like a lifetime ago. Upon thinking that his exhaustion caught up with him and he fell into an uneasy sleep. He kept waking up every few hours in a cold sweat, seeing Death Eater faces swimming above him.

When he awoke around 7 next morning, it was to find four very curious faces looking down at him. He sat up quickly, making all four of them jump in surprise. Harry smiled uneasily at them as he put his glasses on. He decided he should reintroduce himself, since it didn't seem like they were going to talk any time soon.

"I'm Harry, we met yesterday, sorry if I scared you," He stuck out his hand to shake with Sirius.

"Sirius," the boy responded and shook his hand still looking at him as if he might attack. "What was wrong with you yesterday anyways, you were about _dying_."

"Oh, um, yeah," Harry had come up with an excuse yesterday but actually pulling off the lie would be a bit difficult, "Well, I knew I would be coming here today so yesterday I wanted to take a look around the place, so I wouldn't be completely lost but I didn't realize there was and anti-apparating charm around the castle and I kind of got stuck," He looked up, trying to look guilty and a little embarrassed.

"You know how to apparate? But that's really advanced magic," James burst out. He was thinking about the time Sirius and he had tried to apparate last summer, after all if they able to become animagi, they should be able to apparate as well. Instead they spent several frustrated hours trying to figure out how to do it and when they still couldn't get it right, they gave up the effort, resolving that they would just learn next year.

"Yeah, I had a private tutor and she taught me some advanced stuff," Harry lied, praying that he would never have to prove that he could apparate; he didn't have a clue how to do it. "Anyways, when Dumbledore realized it was me trying to apparate into the castle, he let down the enchantment which let me come through. As you saw I was really not in the best of sorts when you found me. I had to run up to Dumbledore to have him reattach my eyebrow." He knew his story had a lot of holes in it but he hoped it would suffice to get suspicions off of him. Remus had his eyes narrowed but everyone else roared with laughter.

"So what's your last name? I don't know if you noticed or not, but we look a whole lot alike, maybe we're related."

"Phillips, but I doubt we are, you see my Dad's a muggle and my mom was the only child of only children, I have a very small family and I pretty much know everyone in it. I guess it's just a weird coincidence."

"Yeah, really weird," responded James, frowning slightly. "Anyways I'm starving. I'm going down to breakfast, anyone who wants to join me can." Then he strode out of the dormitory, clearly expecting everyone to follow straight away. Peter obediently trotted after him. Sirius, however, merely rolled his eyes and yawned and then went over to his bed to get dressed. Remus, though, stayed near Harry and began questioning him.

"So why did you suddenly decide to come to Hogwarts, I thought we had a no transfer policy? And it's the middle of the term too," he pointed out.

"Well, my tutor passed away last week," he looked down to make it look like he was sad and then continued with his story "and my parents decided that rather then hire another, they might as well send me here. Plus it's safer here then anywhere else." He attempted to look upset about his 'dead tutor' in hopes that Remus wouldn't ask him anymore details.

"Oh, I'm really sorry about, erm, that," he said awkwardly.

"It's ok," Harry mumbled, feeling guilty for making Remus feel uncomfortable because of a fictional tutor. "So I think I'm going to go down to breakfast now too, it was nice to meet you…."

"Remus," Remus supplied, looking embarrassed for not introducing himself properly. Harry gave him a smile and then began down to breakfast when Sirius caught up with him.

"Wait, you don't know the way!" He bounded up to Harry and began acting as his tour guide. "Well as you know this is the Gryffindor common room, it is where we do all things common. Up that charming little staircase you find said species of females who will more likely curse you then speak to you. Just like Riley did to poor Peter last night. Crazy girl cursed him and stuck him in a broom closet. The nerve of her." Sirius shook his head; at least Harry knew why Peter had been so miserable the night before. "Anyways, this is the fireplace and right this way is the lovely Lily Evens."

Lily looked up when Sirius said her name and glared heatedly at Harry. He was shocked at the look of venom she was giving him. How did his dad ever get her to marry him if she obviously hated him this much? "Hi Lily, thanks for finding me yesterday." Harry looked up curiously, to see how she would react.

"You see, Lily, that wasn't good old James as we both mistakenly believed" explained Sirius to an extremely confused looking Lily.

"What? Are you kidding?" She looked astonished; she scrutinized Harry for a moment and then realized that Sirius wasn't lying. She blushed a deep scarlet and then said "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry about how I treated you yesterday! I thought you were someone else."

"Don't mention it," Harry reassured her. "I'm Harry, by the way."

"Well, Harry, let me at least make it up to you. If you ever need anything, just let me know. Catching up as a new student can be difficult.

"Thanks. I'll remember that."

"See you, Harry! Sirius," Lily said with a smile and a curt nod respectively as she headed for the portrait hole.

"She's…" Harry trailed off, lost for words as he realized that he'd just had a conversation with his mother.

"Obliging? Attractive? Unfailingly hostile?" Sirius supplied. "Yup, that's Lily for you. Don't even think about it, though, mate. She's a bit nutty at times if you ask me, but James is crazy about her. She, however, has yet to give him the time of day. Don't blame her really," he grinned evilly "James just isn't her type, and he refuses to see that." Sirius continued to lead Harry out of the common room as he talked. "You see, I am much more sensible, I just take them as they come. I mean, sure, I have standards, but I don't do any of the chasing and trying to impress stuff that James does. I simply let them come to me." He said all this with an air of arrogance and Harry couldn't help but laugh and shake his head at his godfather.

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A/N: please make me smile by reviewing! 


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I would, first off, like to formally apologize to my amazing beta **Keycatcher, **I got her name wrong in the last chapter... sorry Mandy, I could have sworn you said Chasing Keys :/ I also need to apologize to everyone for my mispelling of 'Evans' in the previous chapter (thanks for pointing it out Sylkie!) Last but not least, is there a way for me to respond to all of my lovely reviewers? If so, I promise to respond to all of them, I just need to know how to do it. Now, enough of my ramblings, on with the story!

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Chapter 5

Harry had a weird sense of déjà vu as they arrived at the Great Hall and he looked out from the same spot he had stood hundreds of times before. Instead of familiar faces, a sea of black robes and unfamiliar people met him. It was a little overwhelming, but, before he could become discouraged, Sirius made a beeline for the Gryffindor table and plopped down next to James while Harry took the seat next to Remus.

He was about to help himself to some porridge when Dumbledore stood up and the hall fell silent. Everyone turned to look curiously at Dumbledore; announcements were unusual during breakfast.

"Good morning! I promise to only interrupt your breakfast for a few short minutes. As some of you may know we have a new student here today." There was a rush of whispering as the students began turning around in their seats, trying to locate the new arrival. Harry felt himself turning red and slouched down a little to try and remain unnoticed.

Dumbledore motioned for them to be quiet and continued, "His name is Harry Phillips, he is a 5th year, and he has already been placed into Gryffindor in a private sorting last night. I encourage all of you to introduce yourselves and make him feel at home here at Hogwarts."

With that, Dumbledore sat back down and continued to eat his breakfast. He could hear people curiously discussing with their neighbors about why he had come in the middle of the year or how strangely similar to James he looked. Harry felt hundreds of pairs of eyes on him as he tried to focus intently on spooning the oatmeal into his bowl, but was finding it increasingly more difficult with everyone talking about him; it was a sensation you could never experience without feeling uneasy.

Suddenly, an owl landed in front of him, dropped a note in his bowl and then flew off again. He wiped off the drippy oatmeal and opened it up.

_Harry,_

_You're wand as well as other necessary belongings have arrived and are waiting in you're dormitory. Feel free to request anything else that you need. I will contact you as soon as I have any information on how to send you back to you're proper time. In the meantime, enjoy Hogwarts! _

_Included also is your class schedule._

_Cheers,_

_Albus Dumbledore. _

James was starring at him curiously when he looked up. "It's from my parents" Harry lied again, "They said that they sent me my stuff. They're pretty mad about me leaving last night, but I'm sure they'll get over it." James grinned at him and then went back to his discussion with Sirius about the new Seeker playing for Puddlemere United. Having thought that he would constantly be dodging awkward questions that he had no answers to, Harry marveled at how easily the lies were rolling off his tongue.

Just as Harry was about to start on his porridge again, a flash of movement on his right startled him. He looked up to see a pretty girl with corkscrew blond curls and bright blue eyes that matched her navy tie perfectly, sitting down beside him.

"Hi, you must be Harry," she said without preamble, "My name's Florence," she smiled at him and stuck out her hand to shake.

"Like the city?" Harry asked stupidly as he awkwardly shook it; it was very strange to try and shake hands while sitting down.

"Uh, yeah," She responded. Harry felt his face grow hot; luckily he was saved the effort of thinking of something to say by her chattering on happily. "Anyways, I am so glad that you are here, I have been absolutely desperate for someone new and exciting to talk to. Living with the same people for five years can get so boring!"

"Er, yeah. Sorry, but… aren't you in Ravenclaw?" asked Harry, staring pointedly at the royal blue tie she had on. Harry realized how rude it sounded immediately after he said it, but the remark didn't seem to offend her at all.

"Oh, well, yeah. I just thought I'd come say hi. And who says I need to sit according to house? That's so dull, day after day just sitting with the same old faces; I think it's good to mix things up now and again."

"I guess you have a point…"

"Indeed I do," She smiled again; Harry had no idea what to make of this new girl. She seemed nice enough but certainly a little out of the ordinary. Looking around in hopes of being inspired with something interesting to say, Harry saw James and Sirius barely controlling snickers, undoubtedly from Harry's clumsy treatment of the situation. Hoping to save a little face in front of his future father and godfather, Harry decided to leave quickly to retrieve his wand from the dormitories.

"Well, I have to go upstairs and grab some stuff; I guess I'll see you around." Harry curiously found himself hoping to make good on that last comment.

"See you Harry!" She said, nodding, as she cheerfully got up. But rather then head back to the Ravenclaw table, she instead made her way towards Hufflepuff and began chatting animatedly with some 1st years.

Harry hurried through the castle to Gryffindor tower and up to his dormitory, thinking the whole way of the strange girl from breakfast. There was a large trunk resting at the foot of his bed when he burst through the door. He knelt down next to it and lifted the lid. Lying on top of some brand new robes was a long thin parcel. He held his breath as he opened the package, and inside laid his wand, looking so shiny and new that he was afraid to touch it.

There weren't any of the hundreds of fingerprints that his old one was smudged with, or any of the small dents that he never remembered acquiring. He slowly reached for it and then lifted it carefully out of its box. As soon as his fingertips made contact with the wood, he felt a warmth flow through his hand and all throughout his body. He experimentally gave it a small wave and watched as red and gold sparks flew out of the tip. "Just like last time," he murmured to himself. He grinned happily as he stuck the wand in his pocket. It felt good to have it back, he felt more complete now.

He quickly riffled through the rest of his new belongings. He had the exact same course books as he had had in his normal-timed 5th year, except instead of _Defensive Magical Theory _by Wilbert Slinkhard, he had _The Dark Arts Outsmarted_ by Moor O. Necessity.

Harry glanced at his watch and with a start realized that he was almost late for his first class. He stuffed all of his new books into his bag and sprinted down the stairs. As he heading out the portrait hole, he slammed head first into James, who was trying to come through in the other direction.

"Ouch!" they both shouted, rubbing their sore heads. They looked up and grinned at each other in tandem.

"I was just coming up to get you; we're going to be late for Transfiguration."

"Yeah, I know," laughed Harry, "I was just getting my stuff," he pointed at his bag. James nodded and then exited the room. When he got into the hall, he saw Remus and Sirius chatting while Peter stood there looking anxious.

"Guys, we're going to be late! Why don't we just let him find his own way?" whined Peter, not realizing the subject of his complaints had arrived. Harry felt his dislike of the boy deepen.

"Sorry for holding you up," Harry said coolly. "Let's go."

"Not a problem mate," responded Sirius. Then, chuckling, he added, "Besides, we saw you were a bit, er, preoccupied there at breakfast." Harry could feel his face flushing as James began taunting him as well.

"Yeah, mate. You looked absolutely terrified that Mayers was talking to you."

"What do you think Prongs?" said Sirius. "We'll have to train this boy up in the art of wooing the fine females of Hogwarts."

Chuckling, Remus said "I guess by being home schooled, he missed a few key social lessons."

"Oi! Just because I was home schooled doesn't mean I lived in a cave." Harry said, slightly offended.

"Come on, guys, lets go," whined Peter. "Transfiguration! McGonagall's going to murder us if we're late again."

"Don't wet yourself, Wormtail," chided Sirius, yawning. "Besides, it's healthy to be late every once and a while. It would completely ruin our image if we were on time to every class."

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A/N: I promise more action in the next chapter...to be perfectly honest, before I had no plan for this story whatsoever, which is why this chapter took so long, I had no idea where I was going with this. But i finally have a plot loosely outlined which is good news because now I can actually make things happen the way I need them to. As always please review! 


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: My lovely beta, keycatcher, did not have a chance to look over this before I submitted it so I am completley at fault for any and all errors. Sorry it took me so long to update - looks guilty - anyways, on with the story.

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Chapter 6

"10 points from Gryffindor" announced McGonagall when the marauders strolled nonchalantly into the room. Well, actually, Peter sort of scurried into the room fretfully but the rest were the image of calm and unconcern. Harry followed them into the back row, where they made themselves at home.

"Now, as I was saying, the vanishing charm is much easier with invertebrates then with more complex animals, such as mammals."

She continued to lecture on the proper wand technique when Harry noticed James and Sirius bending their heads together and laughing. They both had their wands out and were discreetly pointing them at the heads of the students in the row directly in front of them. Harry looked up just in time to see the hair of all of these students turn a delicate shade of lime green, but only the back of their heads so that they wouldn't notice until someone pointed it out to them. Harry grinned widely and glanced back at Sirius and James. When his eyes met James, James put his fingers to his lips and then they both burst out laughing.

McGonagall cut off her lesson mid-sentence and glared sternly at James. "James, would you care to inform me what is so hilarious that you insist on disrupting my class once again?" she asked.

"Nothing at all, Professor," he responded sweetly, his face the perfect mask of innocence.

"Then would you like to tell me what I just told the class about vanishing charms, as I am confident you were listening," she asked. Harry hadn't a clue what she has just explained; he had zoned her out in favor of watching James and Sirius jinx their classmates.

"Most certainly, professor, you just said that the spell we would be using is _Evenesco, _it was invented by Recedum De'Fluo in the 16th century and that the proper wand movement is a wave," James responded perfectly.

"That is correct," She replied stonily, possibly even a little disappointed that he was right. "Now would you like to come to the front of the class and demonstrate a proper vanishing spell?"

James leapt out of his chair and swaggered to the front where a snail was resting on a table. He casually waved his wand and the snail disappeared completely. A few kids clapped and James gave a little bow, and then returned to his seat.

"Five points to Gryffindor," She said, her lips pursed, but Harry was sure she had been at least a little impressed, he undoubtedly was. Harry looked over at Lily at that moment just in time to see her glaring at James. Her book was open and she was dutifully taking notes. She looked absolutely furious that he had gotten away with not paying attention once again.

Sirius gave James a high-five as he passed and James sat down looking pretty proud of himself. He ran his hands through his hair, messing it up even more so then it had already been. Harry smiled at the gesture; it was exactly the way he had done it in Snape's memory in the Penseive.

After Transfiguration, the marauders and Harry headed to Charms where the first thing he noticed was Florence, sitting near the far wall in the second row. She waved at him when he walked in and Harry found himself wanting to go sit next to her and was about to but the marauders called him back to where they were sitting, once again in the back. He gave her a shrug and a smile and then headed back towards his father and his friends.

When little old Flitwick arrived he welcomed Harry warmly and asked him some questions about what charms he had already covered. Harry explained that he had learnt most O.W.L level charms and some above, due to his advanced tutor. Flitwick said that his class would serve as a refresher course for him then, because they wouldn't cover anything above O.W.L level.

Harry found himself unable to concentrate on the lesson, which had something to do with silencing charms, but they weren't actually practicing them, just learning the theory which was incredibly dull work. He instead spent his time watching Lily and Florence.

He couldn't help but admire the Hermione-ness of Lily's attentiveness. She sat straight in her chair and her eyes never left Fitwick, not for a moment. Florence on the other hand seemed to be scrambling to finish some essay for another class, for a Ravenclaw she didn't seem very prompt about getting her work done. About halfway through the class she rolled up her essay (ink splattered all over it from when she knocked her ink bottle over when Flitwick asked her a question and she jumped in surprise) and took out another essay which she also hastily tried to complete. After she concluded that one she looked up and straightened her robes. She seemed to sense Harry's eyes on her because she looked back at him.

She cocked her head to the side and mouthed "what?" Harry shook his head and then looked down at his notes. A moment later he was surprised to find words written on them, not in his own handwriting.

_So, tell me five interesting things about yourself_

_-Florence _

_p.s. just tap the paper and say "emisso" to send it back to me_

Five interesting things? Well, he had defeated the Dark Lord when he was only one, but, no, he didn't think that would do. He was from the future, but again he didn't think he could say that. He had made the Gryffindor Quidditch team in his first year, but once more, that wouldn't work. It infuriated him that he couldn't tell this girl anything about him that actually mattered. But then, suddenly he was struck with the idea that there was more to him after all then just the big things. So he scrawled down these five facts:

1. I'm an only child

2. I never learned how to swim so the lake kind of freaks me out

3. I am entirely aware of how un-manly that just sounded

4. I have never been in love

5. My favorite Quidditch position is Seeker

And it's all true he grinned to himself. He muttered "_emisso"_ quietly and watched the words vanish from his page. Now that was a useful spell he thought.

She didn't even glance back at him to acknowledge that she had received his note but a few minutes later he got her response.

_1. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream_

_2. I know how girly this sounds but I am terrified of bugs_

_3. I loathe people who call me 'Flo'_

_4. My favorite season is fall because the whole world changes color _

_5. I have a few muggle friends and I absolutely love getting delivery pizza when I visit them over the summer, it is the greatest thing pretty much ever_

And that was it, no comments on what he had written and no further questions. He really was at a loss as to what to make of this girl. Harry noticed James trying to read the note and he instinctively hid the words. James looked slightly annoyed but right then the bell rang.

"I'll meet you guys at lunch alright?" he called out to his new friends before running to catch up with Florence. He shouted out her name and she turned, her hair whirling around her head to land bouncily on her shoulders.

"Hey, you" she said when he had caught up.

"So where did you learn that note passing spell? It's pretty cool."

"Oh, I just made it up; I just used the Latin word for 'send' and played around with the conjugations before I got the right results."

"You can speak Latin?" He said amazed.

"Yeah, we all learned in first year, but we didn't learn how to compose spells until third,"

"Maybe it's a Ravenclaw thing because I never learned that,"

"Well you weren't here in first year, silly."

"Yeah, I mean, I know but the others have never mentioned learning it" he covered feebly. Just then his scar started to prickle painfully.

"Right," she said and then she started to talk about something else but Harry couldn't really concentrate on her words with his scar beginning to tingle more determinedly. As he passed a bathroom he excused himself and mumbled something about seeing her later. He locked himself in a stall just in time.

_Harry was standing in a dark room that smelled faintly of mildew; on the floor in front of him laid a groveling man in long black robes. He inspected his long pale fingers in the dim half-light while he spoke to the man. _

_"So, you are claiming to be from the future and my most loyal follower? Is that the truth?" he sneered. _

_"Yes, master, it is, I am you're most devoted servant and have come to the past to warn you of you're downfall." _

_"Blasphemy," He hissed, and then the man on the ground was writhing in pain, gasping in agony. He let the man suffer several minutes of torture before he released his hold over him. "Now, Crabbe that is just a taste of what you will go through if you speak of such things again. After all, Lord Voldemort respects his followers but you must remember that the respect is mutual, we shall not speak of any weaknesses in front of me, are we clear?" He let the man feel a short burst of pain before allowing him to answer._

_"Yes, my lord, I will never speak of it again, I apologize." _

_"Now, rise," Harry lifted his wand and forced the man to his feet. He looked into the squinty eyes of the Death Eater and saw everything. _

_He had a glance of himself standing in the middle of a circle of his own followers in a grave yard, reprimanding them for their failure to find him, another glimpse of his Death Eaters standing in the Department of Mysteries surrounding a group of children and demanding them to hand over a prophecy. Then he sifted through other memories, Crabbe standing with Lucius Malfoy discussing his death at the hands of the Potter boy, himself ordering several Death Eaters to not harm Potter because he must kill him himself, Crabbe sending his son off to Hogwarts, and many more useless memories of no value to him. When he was done he let the man, Crabbe, fall back to the ground. _

_"Now, I see that you do speak the truth, which pleases Lord Voldemort, but I do have a question for you, are you positive that this boy, Harry, did not return to the past with you?"_

_"Yes, master, I am certain, there is no way the both of us could have survived the trip, I believe that I survived only to be able to warn you."_

_"I see, but his parents, James and Lily Potter, are still alive in this time and will still have him as a son."_

_"Yes, my lord,"_

_"Then they must die," he hissed softly._

When Harry awoke, he was lying on the bathroom floor, cramped between the toilet and the stall door. His hair was plastered to his head with sweat and he felt sick. He shakily got to his feet and walked over to the sink to splash cold water on his face. His reflection looked pale, even to him. For a minute he was worried that when he looked into his eyes he would see Voldemort's red irises staring back but he told himself he was just being stupid.

He stood there, supporting himself on the sink, for several minutes, desperately trying to remember all the details of his vision. He knew Voldemort had been in it, he had _been _Voldemort. And there had been a man, Crabbe, he was pretty sure. And they had been talking about him, how he would lead to the downfall of Voldemort so they had to kill Lily and James to prevent him from being born. The fact that kept shining in front of his mind was that they didn't know Harry had survived and was back too. He shuddered, trying to rid himself of the remnants of the vision and then tried to figure out what to do.

He could tell Dumbledore, he considered but almost as soon as he thought it he felt a sinking wave of guilt. If he had only learnt Occlumency he wouldn't be having these visions in the first place. Not to mention the last vision he had had, the one with Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, hadn't even been a real vision, it was an image placed into his mind on purpose to get him to go to the Ministry. Who knows if Voldemort had purposefully placed this one there too? No, he chastised himself; of course Voldemort hadn't placed this one. That was a ridiculous notion, after all, Voldemort, in this year, had no idea who he even was or about their mind's connection. But then why had he known my name? And why was Crabbe in it? Did he really survive the journey also? Would Voldemort come after his parents, many years before he was supposed to?

Even with all those horrible thoughts floating around his mind, he just couldn't bring himself to tell Dumbledore. It felt almost like an insult to him to admit failure of Occlumency, granted, this Dumbledore didn't even know Harry should have mastered it but he still felt culpable. He knew he was being childish but he just couldn't face the thought of having Voldemort after people he loved again, and somehow he was convinced that if he just didn't tell Dumbledore, then it wasn't true.

If I have any more visions I promise to tell him, he swore silently. In any case, it's not like having weird hallucinations was something very new with Harry. But, he still couldn't quite forget the ramifications his vision could have. He kept hearing Voldemort's hissing voice echoing in his mind … "Then they must die".

With one last look in the mirror he heaved himself up and finally looked at his watch. He had completely passed through lunch and Potions. Oh well, it's not like any amount of Potions would actually help him with the subject. He slowly walked out of the bathroom and swiftly created a cover story to explain his absence. When he met up with James in the next corridor, he explained that he had fallen asleep when he had gone upstairs to get his next book. James had laughed and told him he had an octagon on his forehead. Harry rubbed at it angrily; it must have been from his nap on the bathroom tile.

"Where are the others?" asked Harry

"Well Sirius is in Divination, I am off to Care of Magical Creatures with Remus who already went down and Peter has Muggle Studies." listed off James.

"Oh," said Harry. "Next I have…" he riffled through his bag to find his schedule, and then finally pulled it out, "Divination" he groaned.

"I hear you mate, and Mopsus is an absolute creep, his predictions are always so….right. It is really eerie, seeing the future should be something left to the centaurs and their stars, not people. Anyways, I really can't be late to another Herbology lesson, I already have 3 detentions with Professor Spore, and I truly can't handle one more night of massaging the Venomous Tentactula, so I better run. See you later Harry, good luck with Mopsus!" He said the last bit over his shoulder as he walked away, at a rather leisurely pace for someone in a hurry.

"Wait! Where's his room?" Harry couldn't imagine anyone but Trelawney in the North Tower, it just seemed wrong somehow.

"3rd floor, in the classroom next to the painting of Morgan le Fey." called out James.

When he arrived at the classroom James had described he stopped. There was dead silence coming from within. When he cracked the door open he saw all the students sitting in the dark with misty crystal balls sitting in front of them. He located Professor Mopsus immediately. He was standing in the center of the room, starring directly at Harry. Harry slipped into the room, trying to avoid Mopsus's unblinking gaze.

"So we meet again," Mopsus said as greeting, he had a gravely voice, and a long beard that fell all the way to his knees, he looked small and all bent over, it seemed like one strong gust of wind would finish him off.

"Er-"said Harry uneasily, "I don't believe we have ever met before sir,"

"No, not yet." was his only response.

"What?" asked Harry in utter confusion.

"The glass will right itself in the end, boy, it always does. But, be forewarned, once it begins to spiral, the damage is too far done and the fracture is irremediable."

"Ok…" said Harry, trying to laugh as he uneasily watched his classmates who were starring at him. They didn't look at all surprised by their teacher's odd behavior; apparently he said things like that all the time. Harry slowly walked over to where Sirius was sitting.

"So, is he always like that?" Harry asked in a low voice.

"You mean stark raving mad? Yeah, pretty much. But he does make some disturbingly accurate predictions, like he _knew_when James and I were going to flood the Slytherin Common Room. I don't know how he knew but he just did, He said something like 'the waves of misfortune will be done upon the doer" or something strange like that the day before we were planning on doing it and then, two days later, the Giant Squid basically tried to drown me. It was beyond bizarre."

"You tried to flood the Slytherin common room?" Harry asked in amazement.

"Tried and succeeded! Let's just say it was a rather unpleasant wake up call at 3 in the morning when the lake decided to seep through the impenetrable charm Dumbledore placed." Sirius laughed at the memory. "But yeah, he somehow knew, we were never caught, but, for the next week or so he made all these comments about being 'wet with guilt' and 'in the deep end of trouble' and 'swimming through peril'. He just _knew_."

"Weird," agreed Harry.

"The guy gives me the creeps, but I have to take the class, my mother despises Divination so, by default, I have to take the class to spite her."

Harry nodded in sympathy and waited for Mopsus to give the class some semblance of instructions. But, rather then do that he merely limped around the classroom watching them. It seemed that they were just supposed to know instinctively what to do. Most of the students were starring into their globes intently, with looks of deep concentration. Sirius, however, merely doodled on a piece of paper. When Mopsus came by their desk Sirius looked up at him and said, "My inner eye is still on holiday, will be for a few more weeks I think."

"Watch you're tongue, Black, it may not be yours for much longer." He said with a wicked grin that exposed a rather large amount of yellow, crooked teeth. Sirius looked up in horror and put his hand over his mouth as if to protect his tongue from an unseen force.

When he walked away, Sirius turned to Harry anxiously, "He was kidding right? You don't actually think my tongue is going to fall out or something?"

"No one would miss it if it did." Said an irate voice from behind them, they turned to see fellow Gryffindor, Marlene McKinnon looking livid.

"Marly, what on earth are you talking about? What have I ever done to upset you?"

"First off, it is Marlene to you, and second off did you honestly think I wouldn't notice that you turned my hair green? And no one pointed it out until lunch. I am going to kill you Sirius Black!"

"She likes me," Sirius told Harry in a mock whisper.

"I do not!" she hissed vehemently.

"What makes you even consider that I would do such a thing to a striking young lady like yourself?"

"You sit behind me in both Transfiguration and Charms and who else would be so freaking immature?"

"Well, I suppose I might have done it. But, Marlene, I chose green specifically because it matches you're beautiful eyes so perfectly." Sirius was on full sweet-talk mode now.

"Don't think you can just compliment you're way out of this one, Black," despite saying this, she looked rather flattered, but was still attempting anger.

"Oh, I know, and I plan on making it up to you, why don't you let me take you to Hogsmede next weekend?" he looked up at her from beneath his eyelashes and she looked slightly dazed.

"Well, I guess that would be alright," she said, all thoughts of killing Sirius for dying her hair, apparently had vanished.

Harry just sat there in astonishment, how had he _done _that? Harry would never be able to make a girl go from hating him to swooning in a matter of seconds. He grimaced remembering his mortifying attempts at trying to win a date with Cho last year. He would definitely need to pick up a few pointers from Sirius, discreetly of course.

"Good, I know the perfect place for us to go," Sirius gave her another winning smile, flipped his hair just a little to fall over his eyes and then turned back to Harry.

"That was incredible," said Harry, still awed.

"All in a days work my friend, all in a days work."

Mopsus was passing by their table again so Harry tried to give the impression that he was actually looking into his crystal ball. Harry knew he was useless at Divination and that it was probably just a figment of his imagination but he could have sworn he saw those snake-like eyes swirling around the smoky orb in front of him. His scar gave an uncomfortable twinge and he broke eye contact with the globe. He shuddered, and just when he had nearly forgotten about what had happened in the bathroom, he thought to himself ruefully. Just then Mopsus nodded at him, as if knowing what he had been thinking, then to his surprise, he _winked_. Harry was sure it had just been a trick of the light in the dim room because for the rest of class, even though he was watching the professor for any other signs that he knew something, he didn't even glance his way again.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

That night at dinner Harry discovered himself to still be on the receiving end of a lot of stares. He was, after all, still the new kid and people were rather curious about him, especially since he had skipped both lunch and Potions. The rumor mill was already hard at work about him and his past, luckily, so far they had not discovered anything with even a grain of truth. His favorite rumor was that he was James' clone and was learning how to act like a real human by following James around all day.

Once again Harry found himself sitting between the Marauders at the Gryffindor table. He wasn't sure when it had happened but they seemed to have unanimously agreed to take him in as one of their own and allow him to join their group. Harry wasn't too surprised, he did know Remus and Sirius, even if they didn't know him and James was his father, he would have been a lot more stunned if they hadn't allowed him to befriend them.

Harry continued to feel a little bit shell-shocked though, he couldn't believe that he had been half way through a battle not 24 hours ago and now he was eating dinner with his dad, nearly three decades in the past. Harry had yet to allow himself to feel too excited about meeting his father he realized. He had been solely focused on getting back to the present to save his friends that he hadn't even given himself the opportunity to be happy. Even his viewing of his mother during Charms had been purely analytical, he felt disconnected from it all. He watched as his father threw some mashed potatoes at Remus and in return Remus enchanted James' cup to spill into his lap. Everyone was roaring with laughter and Harry felt a smile beginning to pull at his lips. Suddenly he couldn't help himself, he started to laugh and before he knew it he was gasping for breath, grinning from ear to ear. He was absolutely elated.

Here he was, eating dinner with his father, his god-father and his favorite professor, he was only getting stared at for being new and everything seemed to be so peaceful, no one was whispering about recent deaths or Voldemort's whereabouts. This could be it, he thought, this could be his chance to really get to know his father, at least until Dumbledore could send him back of course. He was always finding himself in terrible situations, he could finally be finding himself in a good one; the phrase 'when life gives you lemons, make lemonade' came to his mind. He felt his grin grow bigger and bigger.

He spent the rest of dinner really watching his father. He was just as arrogant as Snape made him out to be he realized, but for some reason it really didn't bother him. 'He'll grow out of it' he thought. James seemed to be extremely popular, the entire day Harry had been greeted by just about everyone from every house, all mistaking him for James. It was strange for him to be getting so much positive attention. Sirius, while also very popular seemed to be slightly less of a showoff then James. He did love attention and was constantly surrounded by a flock of girls all batting their eyelashes at him, but he wasn't letting it go to his head quiet as much as James.

Remus, on the other hand, seemed happily content with his self-exclusion. Harry was convinced that Remus could have just as many girls around him if he wanted to but he didn't seem too interested in their advancements, more satisfied with his books. That was not to say that he didn't participate in their mischief making that is. Harry had noticed in Transfiguration that, in between taking studious notes and watching James and Sirius jinxing their classmates, he had also been adding to a list of possible pranks and the spells required to perform them.

Harry was also rather surprised to discover that Peter really was not as in the shadows as he had always imagined. When picturing his father's friends he always envisioned Peter as being the one typically left out, and only included as a friend because no one else wanted him. However, Harry was quickly ascertaining that this was not the case whatsoever. Peter was as much a part of the group as Remus was. It was clear that James and Sirius were perhaps closer then the other two were but that didn't prevent them from still all being incredibly close. It was evident that any of the four marauders would trust the others with their life.

They had the kind of bond that Harry felt for Ron and Hermione. With a pang he realized how much he missed them but pushed that thought away in favor of relishing the fact that he was not only alive but with his parents. It was then that he decided that he was not going to waste the precious time that he had. Dumbledore could come up with a solution any day now, it was vital that he grasp this rare opportunity while he could. And, he had to stick around to make sure the vision he had had earlier didn't turn out to be true. If Voldemort tried to lay a hand on either of his parents there would be hell to pay, he was sure of that.

"Why so quiet Harry?" shouted James over the din of hundreds of chattering students.

"Just absorbing it all, today has been crazy, so many new people you know?"

"Well I hope you aren't too tired, tonight we have decided to throw you a little welcome-to-Hogwarts party. It'll be great, we already stole plenty of food from the kitchen and the whole house will be there, it will give you a chance to get to know everybody." Harry's heart swelled that his dad had done all that for him.

"Oh, good, more food, cause we are all just starving here" joked Remus gesturing to encompass the massive amounts of food piled onto James and Sirius's plates.

"Moony, being as good looking as I am is a very exhausting job; it takes a lot of food to fuel such insane-proportions of handsomeness"

"Oh, how silly of me, and I thought you weren't conceited at all, I'm so glad you proved me wrong,"

"Conceited? Me? How dare you suggest something so preposterous! I am as un-conceited as a daffodil."

"A daffodil?"

"Yeah, one of them red ones,"

"Daffodils are not red James, they are yellow," corrected Sirius, "and if anyone is a daffodil, it's me"

"Actually I'd say you are more of a tulip," said Peter

"Yeah and I say you are a mushroom," retorted Sirius.

"What?" yelped Peter, "Tulips are very pretty, mushrooms are like fungus!"

"Exactly my point,"

"Are we honestly arguing about who is the prettier flower here?" asked Remus, "This is the most ridiculous conversation, besides everyone knows that I'm a chrysanthemum which is just about the coolest named flower, and therefore the best."

"Come on Remus, you know that you are really more of a hydrangea then a chrysanthemum, you just don't want to admit it."

"What's a hydrangea?" asked Peter,

"Oh, they are really hideous" supplied Harry, thinking back to his days of trimming the hydrangea bush in front of the Dursley's house. "I entirely hate them,"

"Oh, well thanks" said Remus sarcastically, "It is good to be appreciated."

"Yeah, I do what I can" laughed Harry.

"How did we even get onto this topic?" wondered Sirius, "Oh yeah we were talking about the party. How in the world did we get from party to flowers? Oh well, Harry you are going to love it, it will give you a chance to meet people, especially girls."

"Great, sounds like fun, but, erm, Sirius, you might want to do something about you're hair first."

"What about my hair?"

"Well, I think Marlene might not have been completely over the incident in Transfiguration after all, she appears to have dyed you're hair lavender," He pointed to Marlene who was sitting next to Lily, both were doubled up in laughter.

"What!" barked Sirius, his hand leapt to his hair and he pulled a longer strand in front of his eyes to see it.

"Harry, why would you tell him?" James playfully punched Harry on the arm, "we were going to see how long it took him to notice,"

"I am going to murder her!" growled Sirius, "And you!" he pointed a finger at James, "What were you thinking by not telling me? After everything I have done for you, I have been you're best friend through thick and thin, don't you remember any of that?"

"Oh yeah, I guess it just slipped my mind, I'm terribly sorry,"

"Slipped you're mind did it, yeah we'll just see if we can jog you're memory then," and before Harry even saw Sirius draw his wand James was sporting a pair of rabbit ears, pink ones.

James reached up a hand and felt them, he considered them for a minute and then in the blink of an eye Sirius was covered in feathers. Another flash of light and Remus was in a yellow apron, with pictures of green ducks plastered onto the front.

"Whoa! When did I become a part of this?" he exclaimed.

"No one is safe Moony!" shouted James through his laughter as he charmed Sirius's robes to flash technicolor and smoke profusely.

"What is going on here!" shouted a furious looking McGonagall, who had just arrived from the head table. She flicked her wand and everything returned back to normal, everything except James' rabbit ears that is, he didn't notice either. "Detention, all of you!" she spit out, pointing at James, Sirius, Harry, Remus and Peter. "Come to my office directly after dinner," then she stormed off in a huff.

"So, James, pass the carrots please," requested Sirius as though nothing at all had happened. Everyone burst out laughing and they didn't stop for several minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

After they had all taken their time eating dinner - Sirius took the longest finishing a 4th slice of pie - they slowly made their way to McGonagall's office. Remus knocked on the door and after several moments Professor McGonagall opened it, looking as strict as ever.

"Come in," She said without smiling. "Now, Mr. Phillips, I understand that you are new here to Hogwarts, but trouble-making is not something that is tolerated and jinxing students at the dinner table is something we take very seriously,"

Harry knew she had a valid point but felt slightly annoyed, considering he hadn't even done any actual jinxing. He was about to point this out to her when Peter beat him to it.

"But Professor, Phillips didn't do it; it was only me, Remus, James and Sirius here"

Harry was rather shocked. Who would believe it? Peter was actually defending him and taking the blame for something he himself hadn't done either.

"Pettigrew, I appreciate you're camaraderie, but I feel that is it important for Phillips to understand that watching an event, even if he did not participate in it is no less of an evil then taking part."

Peter looked like he was about to argue but then his shoulders slumped and he nodded dejectedly. "Now, what you five will be doing for me today is transfiguring these teacups back into mice for my 3rd years to continue practicing on tomorrow." She pointed to a rather daunting pile of teacups. Some still had tails and were wriggling a bit. "I expect, with all five of you working, for the task to be done within the hour. Good luck." She then strode out of her office.

"Aw, look Peter, it could be you're brother," said Sirius, holding up a squirming mouse, which, moments ago had been a teacup.

"Sirius!" said Remus rather sharply, then, noticing the look Harry was giving him he covered, "Don't squeeze it so tight, you don't want to kill it,"

"Oh, right," said Sirius guiltily, gently replacing the mouse in the box on the desk. Remus glanced at Harry warily, making sure he didn't suspect anything unusual. Harry was, in fact, trying very hard to suppress a smile, but he pretended not to have noticed anything strange about the exchange and continued on with transfiguring the teacups.

They stopped talking for a while after that, until, of course, James knocked over the box of mice and sent them scattering across the floor.

"No! Catch them!" shouted James and he dropped to the floor desperately trying to pick up the scrambling mice. Sirius burst out with laughter and they spent the next several minutes summoning the mice back into the box. Harry was sure though that they had missed a few, seeing as the box was significantly less full then before the crash. Well, at least Mrs. Norris won't go hungry he thought, and then remembered that there was no Mrs. Norris yet. Surprisingly, the thought made him a little sad.

They finally completed their chore, just minutes before Professor McGonagall returned. She looked appraisingly at their handiwork and then told them they were free to go. Harry was extremely glad she didn't notice one of the escaped mice sitting on her desk chair before they left.

"That was probably the easiest detention we've ever had to do and we didn't even loose any house points," remarked Remus.

"She probably thought that James' rabbit ears were punishment enough."

"You know, I kind of like them, I really think this shade of pink suits me well."

"I agree, but lavender just wasn't my color, if they had turned my hair a nice mauve then I wouldn't have minded so much," contemplated Sirius, running his hands through his black-again hair.

"So, Phillips, we can still make that party happen if you're up to it,"

"Yeah, sure," said Harry, a little unwillingly, the detention had taken a lot out of him and he was feeling exhausted. Transfiguring items that were only half-transfigured to begin with was a lot harder then it looked.

"That sounds convincing,"

"I guess, I'm just a bit tired," His true reason was his fear of being in the spotlight and exposing his true identity but he wasn't about to admit that.

"Oh, ok, maybe another time then," said Sirius, looking rather crestfallen.

"Well, I mean, it will be fun, lets do it,"

Sirius perked up immediately, "Ok! I'll go run to the kitchens and steal us some food; Peter you come with me; Remus and James can go get everyone in the house ready."

"Sounds good," said Harry, he would just have to be extra cautious, his godfather looked so happy that he couldn't bear letting him down. Plus, he couldn't live his entire year worrying about being discovered the entire time.

Half and hour later the party was in full swing and Harry found himself in the middle of a large group of people all asking him questions on what being homeschooled was like. He dodged most of their queries successfully and then slid out of the circle to go talk to Lily who was sitting in the corner looking slightly disheveled, trying to finish an essay.

"You ok?" He asked sitting down next to her.

"Yeah, I'm just a little stumped by this essay for Potions,"

"I'd offer my help but that would probably make it worse, I'm a bit of a disaster at Potions," he smiled at his mother consolingly.

"Thanks anyways, I guess I can just ask my friend who's really good at Potions tomorrow, it's not due for a couple of days, I just hate leaving these things for too long. How are you enjoying the party?"

"Its fun," he lied, "you?"

"Good," she replied, "just noisy for working on an essay you know?"

"I completely understand. So, whose idea was it to charm Sirius's hair?" he asked.

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," she said rather aloofly, "Oh, there's my friend Alice, she's looking a little cornered by Frank Longbottom. I should go do my duty as best friend and rescue her, I'll see you around though!" Harry turned to where Frank and Alice were standing; Alice looked anything but cornered and was starring dreamily into Frank's eyes.

"They're cute aren't they?" said a voice next to him, Harry jumped in surprise, turning to see a plump girl with thin brown hair sitting in the seat Lily had just vacated.

"Yeah, I suppose," he inspected the girl carefully. He could have sworn that he had seen her somewhere else before he just couldn't put his finger on where.

"I heard that Frank asked her to Hogsmeade today and then an hour later Filch caught them snogging in a broom closet." She leaned closer to Harry as if she was imparting something earth-shattering and waited for his reaction.

"Where did you hear that?" Harry honestly could not picture sweet little Alice making-out in a broom closet.

"Oh, around," she replied vaguely, flipped her long hair over her shoulder and sighed deeply, "it's really a shame that Frank was also seen kissing Marly McKinnon just last week, but you didn't hear it from me,"

"I don't believe that, just look at the way Frank is looking at Alice now, he hasn't even glanced at Marly all night." Harry was actually feeling angry, how dare this girl come up and start making false accusations about people he knew were destined to be together?

"Well, that just proves it doesn't it? He's embarrassed, see," she nodded imperiously, "trust me on this one, I know the comings and going of everyone in this house and I assure you that Frank and Marly have feelings for each other."

"Whatever," Harry said dismissively, he wasn't going to argue with this gossipy 7th year about Franks supposed love for Marly.

"So, your name is Harry Phillips right? I apologize for not properly introducing myself, my name is Bertha Jorkins," Harry sat up in surprise over hearing the familiar name. This was the Bertha Jorkins who would eventually meet Voldemort in Albania, reveal the information about the Triwizard tournament and then be brutally murdered. Harry shuddered thinking of the poor girl's fate. No matter how annoying she was, she didn't deserve to be murdered. Harry kept the small talk going with Bertha for a few more minutes before escaping to join Sirius and Peter who were modeling their mauve hair to a crowd of spectators.

The rest of the party passed without anything too dramatic happening and it started to die down around 10.

The next week also passed by rapidly, the most interesting highlights being when James asked Lily to Hogsmeade and was thrown down the corridor from her blasting spell, when Sirius got caught by Slughorn for making a love potion instead of the assigned Befuddlement Draught (he swore he was making it for James to give to Lily which earned him glares from both parties) and when all the marauders disappeared for an entire night only to show up around 6 in the morning completely exhausted. Harry had been dying to go with them, but of course knew he couldn't so he just laid in bed pretending to not hear them making enough noise to wake an elephant as they left on their monthly escapade.

* * *

A/N: Ducks at all the objects being thrown at me I am so so sorry about the dreadfully long wait. I knows it been almost two months since my last update and I am sincerely sorry. Life, school and just everything has been so stressful lately and I know its no excuse but it's the best I have. I do have the next chapter all written and its much longer then this one and I promise lots of action in it. I originally had it as part of this chapter but it was so long I had to split it up. The instant my AMAZING beta is through with it I will post it. Speaking of amazingness I want to thank all of my fantastic, wonderful reviewers for motivating me to continue through all the writer's block I was having so thank you all! I know not much happened in this chapter but it sets the stage for some later stuff...


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The entire school, 3rd year and up, made their way to the entrance hall early the next Saturday morning for the excursion to Hogsmeade. Harry walked between his new friends feeling much more comfortable then he had ever thought he would feel at this point. He was still having nightmares about what might be happening to his friends in the Department of Mysteries but overall he had kind of accepted that he would just have to wait to get back to them. He was also surprised by how easily he had meshed with his father's friends. Harry had always gotten along well with Sirius and Remus in the past - future? - but he had been a little nervous about being around his father. Fortunately, the whole home schooling scheme seemed to be unfolding nicely, and the lack of suspicion gave Harry ample time to get to know James.

"So, after we hit Zonko's why don't we go to the Three Broomsticks and let Sirius flirt with Rosmerta again?" suggested James as they neared the exit

"Who's Rosmerta?" asked Harry mischievously.

"Just about the most lovely, perfect, most splendiferous bartender in Europe. I'm going to marry her, honestly, I am,"

"Well I'm sure the two of you will have a beautiful marriage," Harry added with a smirk, evoking laughter for the rest of the marauders.

They had a fun time in Zonkos; all five of them stuffed their pockets with anything and everything they could find. They helpfully pointed out a few key items for Harry, advising him on the most important marauder-in-training tools, which included dung-bombs, trick candy and a useful pair of Speculocculars that would let him look around corners without being seen.

After Zonkos, they went to go warm up with some butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks as they had agreed to do earlier. Even though it was past Christmas, and all the snow was melted, it was still extremely brisk out and their noses were red from the cold. When they approached the doors of the bustling pub, Harry saw the distinctive red hair of Lily Evans slip inside, closely followed by her friends Marlene and Alice.

Harry, Peter and Remus found a table while Sirius and James squeezed up to a pretty, thin, young Rosmerta who was serving drinks at the bar. The tavern was packed with Hogwarts students as well as a number of teachers and residents of the town. The noise was deafening and despite all the good cheer around him, Harry began to feel uneasy. He couldn't put his finger on it but he had the peculiar feeling that someone was watching him. Ever since his vision of Voldemort and Crabbe last week his scar had been tingling constantly and it was leaving him feeling edgy. It wasn't the pain that was bothering him, merely the fact that the pain tended to indicate that plans were in progress, plans that usually boded ill for Harry and those close to him. He spun his head around in all directions searching for anything out of the norm, but due to the large capacity of people in the inn, seeing whoever was watching him was impossible. Harry sat there apprehensively for long minutes waiting for James and Sirius to return. Remus and Peter were making idle conversation on the other side of the table but Harry wasn't listening. Finally after what felt like eons James and Sirius returned holding five butterbeers that they dropped onto the table with a dull thud.

"She smiled at me today!" Sirius announced happily.

"Doesn't she usually?" asked Peter.

"Well, no, usually she just tells me she won't serve me firewhisky no matter how old I pretend to be or how many times I ask. Then she tends to get angry when I ask anyways." he explained.

"Well then the fact that she smiled today must be a sure sign of her undying love for you" said Remus sarcastically.

"You really think so?"

"Yes, Sirius, I'm sure that her smiling means that she wants to be forever yours and have little baby Sirius Jrs with you."

Sirius glared and looked unhappily into his drink.

James laughed and said "Cheer up Padfoot, I'm sure she will notice you eventually!"

"She does notice me! She just doesn't realize that she's madly in love with me yet. But she will!"

"Oh, sure just like Lily is madly in love with James but doesn't know it yet," remarked Remus

Both Sirius and James now glowered at Remus while Peter and Harry laughed.

Harry lifted his drink to his lips and was about to take a sip when a large crowd of people cleared and what he saw made his heart nearly stop. Crabbe was sitting on one of the bar stools, scanning the room, obviously searching for any sign of Lily or James. Harry desperately tried to think of what to do. Crabbe didn't believe that he was alive so that was his only advantage against Voldemort, but if Crabbe saw Harry and James together everyone would be infinitely in more danger then before. Harry watched in horror as Crabbe's head started to turn towards where he was sitting, but right before their eyes met, Harry dropped out of his chair and crouched on the floor, hidden from Crabbe's prying stare.

"Harry? What are you doing?" All the marauders were peering down at him with expressions shifting from humor to confusion.

"Um, well, I dropped my wand," he held up his wand, "But, I got it now," He took his time standing up, hoping that the danger had passed. Once his head cleared the tabletop he sought out were Crabbe had been sitting, the stool was empty but he heard the bell signaling someone opening the door and turned just in time to see a dark hooded figure creep out of the pub.

'This is really bad,' thought Harry. Either Crabbe had seen him with James and was off to inform Voldemort or Crabbe had only seen James and was off to go tell his fellow Death Eaters to come and kill him. Whichever option, the prospects did not seem extremely positive.

Harry drank as slowly as possible; he hoped that, if they took long enough, the Death Eaters would leave them alone. He knew it was an impractical thought but it was the best thing he could think to do. His hopes were shattered when he saw Lily and her friends get up and head to the door. Acting on impulse he got up and walked as fast as he could through the throngs of people filling the Three Broomsticks.

"Lily!" he shouted as she was about to walk out the door, she turned and looked back at him, "Hold up just a minute, I have to ask you something,"

"I'll meet up with you two back at Hogwarts, ok?" she told Marlene and Alice who left shooting Harry furtive glances as they walked away. Harry was filled with relief that he had stopped Lily from walking outside where he was sure people were waiting to hurt her. "Well?" asked Lily after a few moments of just standing there. Harry was at a loss of what to say, his plan had stopped at 'prevent Lily from going outside' and he didn't have any excuse waiting.

"I just wanted to let you know that you look, erm, nice today…" he stumbled through the sentence, flirting had never been his strong suit and he felt especially gross fake-flirting with his own mother, even if it was for her own protection. Anything to keep her inside the safety of the inn he thought.

"Oh, thanks, you too," she looked around awkwardly, obviously as uncomfortable as Harry.

"So, want to join me and the others for a drink?"

"You mean with James?"

"Well, he would be there, or if you prefer we could just go talk somewhere-" Harry was interrupted by James coming up to him and slinging his arm around his shoulder.

"So, what are you and my girl talking about?

"None of your business Potter and, as I believe I have made astonishingly clear in the past, I am not now or ever _you're _girl!" Lily proclaimed furiously, striding out of the pub and slamming the door behind her before Harry could keep her inside.

"Lily, no!" "Come on, Evans," exclaimed Harry and James, respectively, as they rushed after her.

"Leave me alone, I mean it!" Lily said over her shoulder as she hurried down the surprisingly deserted street. Although his parents didn't notice, Harry suspicion was piqued by the lack of people, considering most of Hogwarts should be in the village. Just then, he noticed a hooded figure emerging from around a corner at the end of the street.

"Bloody hell!" Harry exclaimed as he dove into the alleyway next to the Three Broomsticks and hid behind a rubbish bin. Using his new Speculocculars, which he had bought at Zonkos just hours earlier, Harry thought that the cloaked figure was in fact Crabbe, and was pleased with his own caution. If Crabbe saw Harry and James together, everything would be ruined. Harry's parent's, however, were completely oblivious to him as Lily continued to scream at James.

"Potter, you are the most insolent, horrible most repulsive excuse for a man that I have ever had the misfortune to meet, I can't believe you would say something like that, something so possessive, like I'm your property! Wait, on second thought, that is exactly what I would expect from you, James Potter. Don't ever think that you will have a chance with me, I hate you and-"

"Evans, DUCK!" James shouted cutting her off and knocking her to the ground seconds before a red stunner hit her.

"James! Get off of me!" she squealed, misinterpreting his actions. Her error was quickly corrected however as a swarm Death Eaters strode out from behind buildings and rapidly surrounded the two young teenagers.

A/N: Ok, I know I promised a long chapter with action but this cliffhanger was just too irresistible, I had to end the chapter here but I swear to you I will have the next chapter up really soon. I know I'm evil :) Thanks for all the reviews they make me super-duper happy! And as always I must give credit to the best beta in the world, Keycatcher!


	9. Chapter 9

"Lily stay behind me!" instructed James chivalrously, she shot him a look of disgust and instead drew her wand and moments later spells were flying through the air.

Harry watched in horror, he couldn't be seen without his one advantage over Voldemort being taken away but he couldn't just stand there and watch his parents, who were terribly outnumbered, get attacked. It seemed like an eternity as he sat there watching the masked men throw spells at his parents but he knew in reality it was only moments. Both James and Lily were putting up a good fight but were swiftly getting corralled back against the wall.

James dodged a spell that Harry didn't recognize and threw himself at one of the Death Eaters who was trying to curse Lily. The Death Eater pointed his wand at James and he was thrown through the air with a yellow blast and landed a foot from Harry's hiding place.

"James!" shrieked Lily as the masked men began advancing onto her. They had her corned and were jeering at her, not even using magic anymore now that she was so outnumbered.

"Who knew such a filthy little mudblood would put up so much of a fight?" said one of the Death Eaters, Harry thought it might be a younger Macnair but couldn't be certain.

"So, little girly, what are you going to now that your boyfriends gone?"

Harry didn't wait to hear anymore. He dragged the unconscious body of James around the corner, the Death Eaters had their back to him and Lily was too preoccupied to notice. Then, Harry jumped out from behind the rubbish bins and started stunning every Death Eater back that he could in the few seconds that he had before the men realized that they were being attacked.

"Didn't we already incapacitate this one?" shouted one of the 5 remaining Death Eaters.

Harry responded by throwing a volley of curses at them which they deflected with ease.

"Lily, run! Go get help!" he shouted looking over a stocky Death Eater's shoulder. He ducked a bludgeoning hex and countered with his standard "Expelliarmus!" The man's wand flew through the air and Lily caught it; without thinking twice she snapped the wand in half and the Death Eater screamed in horror. Lily kneed him in the stomach and quickly magically bound and gagged him.

"I'm not leaving you here, Potter!" Harry smiled inwardly for a second; his hopes that Lily would mistake him for James had worked out perfectly. He didn't have long to gloat however, he was now dueling two of the Death Eaters while the others had turned to face Lily, who was skillfully shielding or dodging their curses. She was darting between the rays of light so fast that Harry was slightly awed.

He heard one of the Death Eaters bellow "Somnium Cadit!" and Harry turned just in time to see Lily crumple to the ground. Harry felt a burst of rage and began shouting out hexes as fast as he could. His only thought was to keep these men away from his mother. The man who had attacked Lily was hit with Pertificus Totalus before he could turn around and the other Death Eater was stunned. The two whom were still attacking him seemed slightly fearful of his aggression. Two quick Expelliarmus's and he was holding both of their wands.

Keeping his own wand pointed at them he asked "Why were you sent here?"

"Why would we divulge the Dark Lord's plans to you Potter?" A familiar voice answered.

"Because if you don't you're buddy over here will get it" Harry said, trying to sound sure of himself as he nudged the tied Death Eaters with his foot. His heart was pounding, he was pretty positive that the Death Eater who was speaking was Crabbe; Harry prayed that he wouldn't be recognized.

"Potter don't be stupid just stand aside and give us the girl, she's the one we want anyway, you were just an added bonus. Let's just say that this girl is of special interest to the Dark Lord and his plans,"

The men were slowly inching forward and were obviously planning on grabbing Lily to Apparate away. Harry shot a stinging hex at the creeping Death Eaters.

"Don't move!" he shouted as bravely as he could. The Death Eaters halted and then fell face forward onto the ground. Harry stood there in shock for a moment. A stinging hex didn't knock people out.

Then, none other then Florence came out from behind the same alleyway that Harry had hidden James in. She looked terrified but her wand, which was still stretched out in front of her, was steady.

"Thank you," said Harry in complete surprise.

"Sure, anytime,"

They both let out a shaky laugh. "What happened here? Did you take down all these Death Eaters on your own?" asked Florence in wonder.

"No, Lily and James helped but they're both hurt. You make sure Lily's okay, I'll check on James." Florence nodded and headed over to where Lily lay on the ground. Harry walked to James who looked horribly pale. Harry revived him and James' eyelids fluttered open.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry in concern.

"Simply peachy," responded James. He pushed himself into a sitting position and then tried to stand. Halfway up however he decided it was probably better to stay sitting down. James surveyed all the bodies strewn across the ground and slurred "Well, that certainly was exciting wasn't it?"

"Oh, yeah it was a blast. Do you know what spell they hit you with?"

"No, but it was yellow!" James exclaimed excitedly and then began to giggle.

"Alright, you just sit here and don't move." James nodded obediently. "I am going to go check on Lily but I'll be right back," Harry felt like he was talking to a five-year-old.

"LILY!" James shouted and he leapt to his feet, he stood drunkenly for a moment or so before breaking out in shambling run towards where Florence was kneeling over Lily. Harry followed and they both crouched down next to her. She was breathing but no matter what they did they couldn't revive her.

"What's wrong with her?" asked James

"Not sure, they hit her with some weird spell; he said 'Somnus Cadit' or something like that,"

"I dunno what that is," said James looking worriedly at Harry.

"Yeah, me either," He looked hopefully at Florence but she shook her head as well. "Okay, well James, why don't you go bring Lily to the hospital wing, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will have something to give you too, and then go get Dumbledore and tell him there are a bunch of Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, I'll wait for him here with Florence to keep an eye on the bodies,"

"Okay!" said James, jumping to his feet again, he then levitated Lily's body and started walking as quickly as possible back to the castle. Harry was mildly concerned by the fact that James was weaving back and forth and Lily's toes were dragging on the ground but he decided that James could manage at least until they got to the castle.

"Why do you think Death Eaters attacked Lily and James?" asked Florence, leaning back against the wall of the alleyway.

"I don't know," Harry lied, feeling guilty not just about the lie but about how close his parents had been to being murdered because of him.

"It was really brave of you to jump in there and defend them like that, not many people would have."

"I'm sure that's not true, anybody would have done what I did." Harry said, grinning inwardly at the compliment.

"Well, it was still brave," she smiled at him, running her hands through her long blonde hair. "What do you suppose is going to happen to them now?" she asked, pointing at the bodies strewn across the ground.

"I'm guessing they will be heading on a one way trip to Azkaban. I mean they are obviously in league with Voldemort."

Florence flinched at the name and then whispered, "Harry, did the one on the left there just move?"

Harry looked up in alarm. The figure was perfectly still now but Harry got up anyways to inspect him. It was the man whom Lily had bound and gagged earlier, he was laying there with his eyes wide open in terror, looking straight at Harry. Harry was convinced that this man had seen both James and him together, so he decided some direct intervention was necessary. Quietly, so that Florence wouldn't hear him he whispered "_obliviate" _and erased the man's memory. He had never performed a memory charm before but had seen it done on several occasions and was pretty certain he had gotten in right. At least he hoped so. He then one by one cast the full-body-bind on the man to prevent him from escaping again; Florence took care of the last couple men once she saw what he was doing. Suddenly feeling drained and exhausted, now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he slumped back down besides Florence.

"So now what?" She asked, drawing her knees up to her chest and looking warily at all the bodies.

"Now we wait, I guess, I'm sure Dumbledore won't be long once James tells him what happened."

The two of them sat there in silence for several minutes. A thought suddenly struck Harry.

"Hey, Florence, where is everybody? I mean the streets should be crowded with people shouldn't they?"

Florence nodded uncertainly and then raised her wand. After a few moments she said, "There's a ward around this street. Nobody can see us here and so we can't see them. I think I know how to remove it." She was about to do just that when Harry stopped her.

"I'm not sure it would be the best idea to reveal a street full of bodies to the mass public so unexpectedly like that. Let's just wait a minute here for Dumbledore; I'm sure he'll be able to see us through the ward. Let's see what he has to say."

When Dumbledore did arrive about fifteen minutes later he rushed over to where the two of them sat against the wall. They jumped up and stood uncertainly, not sure what to say.

"Are you two alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" He asked instantly, there was no twinkle in his eyes as he scrutinized the situation.

"We're fine sir," answered Florence, "Are James and Lily going to be OK?

"James is fine, he got on the wrong end of a befuddling jinx but Madam Pomfrey has him all sorted out. Ms. Evans is still unconscious but we are sure she will make a full recovery." As he spoke he paced between the fallen Death Eaters. "Why don't you tell me exactly what happened here, I came the second I got the gist of what James was saying but I did not procure all the details from him."

"Well, I was just walking past the Three Broomsticks when I felt a really strange feeling in the air; I could tell there was some spell being put in place. Then I heard bangs coming from this alleyway, so I came running and saw Harry trying to take on two of those men in masks on his own. So I knocked them out and then we revived James and sent him to you." Florence explained this all very fast, she took a deep breath and then turned to Harry to have him fill in the details.

"Lily, James and I were coming out of the Three Broomsticks and then this group of Death Eaters just came out of nowhere and starting attacking us. Between the three of us we took down eight of them and Florence here took care of the other two."

"That is quiet a tale, I presume that the strange feeling you spoke of Ms. Mayers was the disillusionment charm that has been placed over this entire block. That's an impressive piece of magic, its no surprise you were able to feel it in the air. But what I am more concerned about is why Lord Voldemort would be interested in attacking three teenagers. Did they say anything about why they were assaulting you?"

"No, not really, just that Lily was of 'special interest' to him," answered Harry, looking down to hide his face from Dumbledore's knowing eyes.

"And that's all?" Dumbledore's face was unreadable.

"Pretty much,"

"Alright, why don't you two head back to Hogwarts, I've already notified the Ministry and they are on their way over right now to take care of things. Don't worry; I'll make sure they don't question you any further. Oh, and congratulations, you have both shown incredible strength and courage here today you should be immensely proud of yourselves. Fifty points to both your houses,"

Florence beamed at Dumbledore.

"And one last thing, I think it would be most prudent to not mention to Lily that the Death Eaters were specifically coming for her. No need to worry her until we have more details. There is no safer place for her than Hogwarts so there is really no reason to concern her just yet."

Harry nodded, completely agreeing with Dumbledore, Florence nodded as well, but a little more reluctantly.

That night, after Harry and Florence has both checked on Lily – she was asleep but doing fine, Harry found himself standing in front of the stone gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office. The afternoon's attack had made it clear to Harry that he couldn't keep his vision, or the fact that Crabbe was in the past as well, a secret any longer. When Dumbledore had asked him if there was anything else he wished to say, Harry knew in his heart that it was time to come to grips with the fact that his past had caught up with him all the way in 1975. He hadn't said anything right then because Florence had been there, but now he knew he had to explain his whole story, if only to keep everyone in this time safe. He muttered, "Please," to the gargoyle, and was happy to see that the password had yet to be changed. The gargoyle jumped to the side, and Harry climbed the stairs slowly, trying to think of where to even begin explaining. Taking a deep breath he lifted his hand and knocked on the great wooden door.


End file.
